Best nVidia manufacture?

I've been looking all over the place for an answer to this...

Who is the best nVidia manufacture? Warrenty and customer service aside please.

Who makes the best boards? Who uses the best parts (memory / heat sinks etc)

Which brands typically overclock higher than others?


eVGA is what I currently have due to their warrenty, price and customer service. However everything I read says the eVGA cards dont overclock as well as the others - what is different about their cards?

I think your last paragraph hits it perfectly - EVGA has fantastic warranty and step-up program.

Typically the cards are all based on reference designs, and later will change some things (coolers, etc). Most cards are amazingly similar.

You really do pay for customer service, warranty, and all of those extras.

I like EVGA, but never had problems with many others, including MSI, etc.

The reason I'm curious is because of some reviews I've read. I've read a 9800 GT roundup review on hardwarecanucks.com with some interesting results.

The short - they took a stock eVGA card and a stock BFG card and overclocked them. The eVGA was stable at just over 700 (705 I think) but the BFG was stable in the high 700s (787 I think) - what's the difference between the two cards that makes the BFG so overclock friendly?

Different capacitors, routing, what? Gah - the unknown!

If this site only compared 1 card from each manufacturer that isn't a very good way to draw any conclusions. From everything I've read, a chips ability to overclock well is more or less random. One way to see this is to look on newegg.com, they have factory overclocked cards from many vendors that are all hitting similar speeds. Buying one of these is price premium for sure but you are also paying to have a chip that successfully overclocked to those frequencies. But you could also get a stock card with a great warranty (EVGA and a few others I believe) so if things go bad in the overclock you've got a replacement on the way.

XFX hands down; I'm all for the lifetime guarentee. BFG second. EVGA has given me nothing but trouble, so I put them last of these three.